Wolfe held to 25 rush yards on 18 carries in NIU loss

 

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• Nations Leading Rusher Held to 25 Yds

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	10	21
Total Yards	157	380
Passing	157	251
Rushing	0	129
Penalties	3-21	7-59
3rd Down Conversions	4-12	12-22
4th Down Conversions	1-2	0-0
Turnovers	3	1
Possession	21:12	38:48

Individual Leaders

Northern Illinois Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Horvath 14/25 157 1 3	Western Michigan Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Cubit 29/44 251 1 1
Northern Illinois Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Wolfe 18 25 0 8 Horvath 4 -25 0 1	Western Michigan Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Bonds 32 98 0 7 West 6 22 0 11 Cubit 2 9 0 11
Northern Illinois Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Davis 7 89 1 31 Wolfe 5 31 0 12 Davis 1 22 0 22 Carter 1 15 0 15	Western Michigan Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Chapple 8 53 0 16 Bonds 4 31 0 14 Simmons 4 26 0 12 West 4 15 0 9

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				NIU	WMU
	TD	10:24	JARRET CARTER 0 YD BLOCKED PUNT RETURN (CHRIS NENDICK KICK)	7	0
SECOND QUARTER				NIU	WMU
	FG	11:39	NATE MEYER 20 YD FG Drive info: 15 plays, 64 yards.	7	3
	TD	3:34	MATT STEVENS 2 YD PASS FROM RYAN CUBIT (NATE MEYER KICK) Drive info: 12 plays, 73 yards.	7	10
THIRD QUARTER				NIU	WMU
	FG	7:45	NATE MEYER 39 YD FG Drive info: 9 plays, 45 yards.	7	13
FOURTH QUARTER				NIU	WMU
	FG	3:25	NATE MEYER 40 YD FG Drive info: 9 plays, 30 yards.	7	16
	TD	1:19	BRITT DAVIS 31 YD PASS FROM PHIL HORVATH (CHRIS NENDICK KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 80 yards.	14	16

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) -- Nate Meyer kicked three field goals and Western Michigan held the nation's leading running back to 25 yards to beat Northern Illinois 16-14 on Saturday.

Who's Afraid of Garrett Wolfe?
Not the Broncos of Western Michigan, evidently. The Broncos held Wolfe, the nation's leading rusher who had been averaging 223.8 yards per game heading into this weekend, to just 25 yards on 18 carries, perhaps dooming Wolfe's chance at the Heisman Trophy. Here is how Saturday's performance ranks among the (few) lowlights of Wolfe's career.
Date	Opponent	Rush Yds	Result
Sept. '04	Maryland	24	L, 23-20*
Oct. '06	W. Michigan	25	L, 16-14
Sept. '04	Iowa St.	33	L, 48-41*
Sept. '04	S. Illinois	45	W, 23-22*
Sept. '05	Akron	52	L, 48-42
* -- First 3 games of college career

Huskies running back Garrett Wolfe, who had been averaging 223.8 rushing yards per game, had just 3 net yards 20 minutes into the game. He finished with 25 yards on 18 carries -- an average of 1.4 yards per carry -- as his Heisman Trophy hopes were damaged.

Wolfe was held scoreless for the first time since last year.

Despite their defensive domination of Wolfe, the Broncos (4-2, 2-1 Mid-American) had to rally from a 7-0 deficit.

Meyer made three of his four field-goal tries, including a 40-yarder with 5:18 left that gave Western Michigan a 16-7 lead. Western's only touchdown came on a 2-yard scoring pass from Ryan Cubit to redshirt freshman Matt Stevens. It was Stevens' first career catch.

Northern Illinois (4-3, 3-2) lost to the Broncos for the first time since 2000.

Cubit tied a career high with 29 completions in 44 throws and was intercepted once.

Until the Huskies' Britt Davis caught a 31-yard TD pass from Phil Horvath with 1:19 left, their only score came on a blocked punt recovered by Jarret Carter in the end zone in the first quarter.

Wolfe caught five passes for 31 yards, but his difficulty in the rushing game was glaring.

The 25 yards were his lowest rushing total since running for 24 against Maryland in his 2004 college debut. Until Saturday, he had 11 consecutive 100-yard games and 11 consecutive games in which he scored a touchdown.

Overall, the Huskies had zero net rushing yards. The Broncos totaled 129 rushing yards, led by Mark Bonds' 98, and nearly doubled Northern Illinois' play total, 84-47.

The Huskies' 157 offensive yards marked its first sub-200 yard total in nearly two years.